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Paraprofessionals as Artists – Follow-Up Letter to National Association for Music Education – NCLB Policy Letters to States
John J. Mahlmann
Executive Director
National Association for Music Education
1806 Robert Fulton Drive
Reston, VA 20191
Dear Mr. Mahlmann:
This is in response to your September 30, 2003 letter concerning the paraprofessional education provisions of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Specifically, you questioned the application of those provisions to artists who deliver instruction in public schools.
As indicated in my earlier letter, the question of whether an artist working in a school is a "teacher" or a "paraprofessional" and whether the artist must meet Title I qualification requirements can only be answered based on the specific circumstances of each artist's individual situation. I identified several factors that a district would need to take into consideration to determine whether an artist is subject to the teacher or paraprofessional qualification requirements. One of those factors is whether the individual is an employee of the school district. In general, the question of whether an individual is considered an employee of a school district when that person's salary is paid with a combination of private and public funds is a local determination. For Title I purposes, an individual is considered to be an employee of the school district and working in a program supported by Title I funds, when a school district hires the person to provide instruction or instructional support in a Title I targeted assistance school and the person's salary is paid, in whole or in part, with Title I funds. An individual is considered to be an employee of the school district if the person is hired by the school district to provide instruction or instructional support in a Title I schoolwide program school, without regard to the source of funding for that person's salary. This is because in a schoolwide program, Title I funds are used to upgrade the curriculum of the entire school–>all staff are considered to be Title I staff and all students are Title I students. Once a district makes a determination that an individual is a teacher of a core academic subject or is a paraprofessional consistent with the statute, guidance, and regulations, then the qualification and program requirements apply, as appropriate.
With regard to your second set of questions, Federal funds must be expended for the purposes and under the conditions specified in the law authorizing the funds. Similarly State and local funds must be spent in accordance with the authority that generated those funds.
As for the distinction between "instruction" and "enrichment" for the purposes of determining if Title I professional qualifications requirements might apply, the key is the
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content being provided. As you correctly point out, instructional activities can take place in a school that are not part of the ongoing instruction in core academic subjects. The following question in the new Improving Teacher Quality guidance may be useful to you in thinking about this issue:
C-21. How do the teacher quality requirements apply to individuals working in extended learning time programs?
If services offered outside of regular school hours in a Title I extended learning time program provide instruction in core academic subjects designed to help students meet State or local academic standards, the persons providing such core academic instruction must meet the highly qualified teacher requirements. In extended learning time programs (which can include summer school), the school's regular teaching staff extends or continue the school's instructional day using the same or similar curricula, and therefore they must be highly qualified. However, if the instructor is not an employee of the school district, the teacher quality requirements do not apply.
An extended learning time program that offers core academic instruction because an LEA has determined that particular students need additional time to learn to State standards can be distinguished from an after-school program offering academic enrichment, tutoring and homework assistance, including supplemental educational services under Section 1116 of No Child Left Behind. In the latter case, the highly qualified teacher (and paraprofessional requirements) do not apply. It is up to the LEA to draw the distinction between extended time and enrichment programs.
I hope this additional information is helpful to you.
Ronald J. Tomalis
Acting Assistant Secretary
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education


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Tyra Banks looked really relaxed when photographers caught her just after chowing down with her boo Erik Asla.
A model/media mogul's gotta eat! TheYBF.com reports that Tyra and her photographer boyfriend grabbed a bit at Gracias Madre, a vegan Mexican restaurant, on Tuesday night. Paparazzi weren't able to spy the happy couple chowing down, but they did capture a few shots of Tyra and Erik walking hand-in-hand on their way to the car!
MUST READ: Don't Call It A Comeback! Tyra Banks Returning To Daytime With New Talk Show
Like any good beau, Erik cleared a path so that his woman could get into their ride safely. The pair dressed up a bit for their date. Tyra slipped into a little black dress for the evening, adding a leopard print handbag for an interesting pop. Erik offset his eyes with a blue-and-green stripped tie.
The masses are accustomed to seeing Tyra all dolled up with a sickening face beat, but Tuesday she went for something more natural. Tyra was clearly giving her face a break as she emerged from the restaurant without so much as a dab of lip gloss on her lips or a swipe of mascara on her lashes. Her hair was…well….click here to see for yourself!
We're sure she'll get her wig game back together when "America's Next Top Model" returns later this year and her new talk show debuts at the top of 2015!
Tyra Banks To Produce Transgender Documentary Series For VH1
PM BUZZ: Sam Jackson Lets Anchor Have It; You'll Never Guess What Tyra's New Boo Looks Like & More…
FAB OR FUG: Tyra Banks At Sports Illustrated 50th Anniversary [POLL]
SPOTTED: Tyra Banks Does Date Night With Photographer Boyfriend was originally published on hellobeautiful.com

subset: commoncrawl


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It's tempting, isn't it? Your small child, grandchild, or family friend looks at you with those big eyes and says all they want for Christmas is…. A pony. While the plea is endearing, and you do know a guy with a Shetland for sale, time and care must be taken before launching into this decision. Here are just a few of the key points to consider:
All animals require time and attention. If you're looking at getting a horse for your daughter and she is already spreading herself thin between basketball practice, dance lessons and pep squad, you may want to reconsider. At a minimum, you need to be prepared to have the time to feed and water your horse at least two times each and every day. In addition to that, regular grooming and exercise will take time, as will things like farrier visits, veterinarian check ups, etc.
Let's face it: a horse is not a backyard animal. They require space to live and space to get exercise. Unless you have a barn and paddock ready to go or are willing to pay for boarding somewhere, buying a horse may not be the best choice for you.
Horses cost money. Not only at the initial time of purchase, but also throughout their life. Dollars can be easily spent on horses in the form of veterinary bills, shoeing, boarding, feed, tack, equipment, supplies, transportation, etc. Make sure you have talked to other horse owners about what to expect for costs (especially those specific to your area – like the price of hay and boarding costs) and that you can afford the hobby before you begin.
Almost every little child goes through a phase where they want own a stable full of horses and they swear they'll ride every day. But when the rubber hits the road, the passion often fizzles. And nothing is sadder than a well-trained, capable horse in the prime of its life, sitting in a pasture with nothing to do and no one to ride it.
Alternatives to horse ownership
So how do you know if horses are going to be a long term enjoyment for you or someone you love? There are several ways to get started in the horse habit without being a full-fledged horse owner. Why not give a gift certificate for riding lessons at a nearby stable? This will whet the appetite of the temporary horse lover, and if they stick with it, it may prove that a long term investment is wise. In addition, many horses are offered for lease instead of sale. This minimizes you exposure to risk in the event that after 2 months the riding habit dies off.
If you decide to move forward with the purchase, well – be ready with wide open arms for the biggest hug you'll ever receive! Don't say we didn't warn you!


text: Painting Construction: You can decide the drawing turn according to your personal favor or in turns of the numbers For the white paint and other light color paint part, the figures left on the canvas may be seen, you can double use the paint and try to cover with the thick paint the paint: use the paint directly and do not add any water the match the number of the paint and the figure on the canvas to fill in the paint if you careless to fill in a wrong color, you can wait the paint to get day and then cover the wrong part with the correct color on the surface the brush: wash the brush cleanly when you change to another color for the large part, you can use the larger brush to paint, and for the small part, you can use the smaller brush to paint wash the brush cleanly every time you finish painting for the next time use the canvas: professional canvas design for DIY oil paint Note: Included frame For the Solid Wooden Frame, Please visit our storefront . Attention: If you happen to have the paint on your clothe, please wash it immediately. Please cover the lid of paint well when you do not use it, in case the paint gets dry. The figures on the canvas may not be covered entirely, hope you do not mind. The paint we offer is enough for the normal use, please do not waste it in case of the paint shortage. ANY OTHER QUESTION, PLEASE CONTACT US. THANK YOU.


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Sometimes it's hard to call whether a movie is just bad or rather a special brand of "gonzo" camp, so bizarre and eccentric that it transcends to a level of must-see movies. Orphan—produced by Joel Silver and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra—comes close to the pantheon of so-bad-they're-good horror movies, but as they say, no cigar. So much of Orphan plays the same old "evil kid" beats as The Omen, The Bad Seed, The Good Son, and so forth that when the film announces it's about another kettle of fish entirely, it's a bit too little, too late.
Vera Farmiga (The Departed) and Peter Sarsgaard (An Education) play Kate and John Coleman, traumatized marrieds who decide to fill a void by adopting little orphan Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). Socially ostracized—seemingly for her precocious intelligence—Esther is like a bird with a broken wing, just the creature to capture the imagination of an adopter in maternal overdrive. John is on board, too, but Esther drives a wedge between the couple when Esther begins acting out, at first in ways that John is inclined to dismiss or excuse. Esther finds herself at the center of school and playground incidents, and she antagonizes her adoptive siblings: Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) and Max (Aryana Engineer). It's no surprise to the audience when Esther starts offing animals and people in scenes straight out of the demon-child playbook. Okay, she's not a demon child—screenwriter David Leslie Johnson's idea for Esther's origin story is far more twisted than that. The buy-in, or not, at that climactic moment of revelation will either make the eye-rollers go cross-eyed from exertion or suddenly have them cheering the filmmakers on for sheer audacity.
Though Farmiga probably didn't make the wisest career choice to take on Orphan so soon after 2007's evil-kid movie Joshua, she and Sarsgaard turn in credible performances that help to make Orphan's case. Collet-Serra does some impressive work in two areas: the creep-out scenes involving Fuhrmann using language and attitudes inappropriate for her years (especially a sexual come-on to her new daddy) and the horror-tinged action sequences, including the climax. Though Orphan is unmistakeably garbage, see if you're not gripping your armrest just a little thanks to Collet-Serra's taut direction and Tim Alverson's effective editing. Orphan just may linger as a camp cult movie to go alongside ones like The Bad Seed, but one hopes next time Collet-Serra will just shoot for "good."
Whatever one thinks of the movie, Warner's high-def Blu-ray presentation of Orphan—just in time for Halloween—is impeccable. The picture quality is outstanding, preserving the deep color tones and wintry snap the film exhibited in theaters. Contrast and black level are strong, and detail and texture are fantastic; distracting digital artifacts are nowhere to be found. A lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix ensures that none of the subtleties of the mix heard in theaters are lost in your home theater; those patented horror-movie "jumps" are calibrated just right.
What bonus features are here are good; they're just limited in scope. That said, "Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Kids" (14:56, HD) does a nice job of putting Orphan into a context of films like The Omen, The Bad Seed, The Good Son, Rosemary's Baby, Children of the Damned, and The Exorcist, as well as explaining the psychology behind such horror flicks. Participants include director Jaume Collet-Serra, producer Joel Silver, writer David Johnson, Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder, executive producer Don Carmody, producer Susan Downey, horror historian and archivist David Delvalle, Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton of Dreadcentral.com, Brad Miska of BloodyDisgusting.com, psychotherapist Dr. Michael Levittan, and clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Stephen A. Diamond, PhD.
Secondly, the disc includes "Deleted Scenes/Alternate Ending" (4:04, SD), comprising four deleted scenes and the alternate ending, presented in standard definition.
The disc is BD-Live-enabled and includes a Digital Copy.
Review gear: |
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer


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Kombucha has grown in popularity over the past few years around the same time as kefir and probiotically-augmented yogurts. Like yogurt, kefir, and sourdough bread it requires a starter culture which is added to black or green sweetened tea. The result is a tart, fizzy drink (0.5% ABV) that tastes a little like apple cider and is touted by many for health benefits.
Even if other health claims of kombucha seem a bit far fetched, few can deny that it helps maintain beneficial bacteria in your gut. If you stay away from dairy products it may be worth investigating. Homesteading weblog One Green Tomato offers a complete guide to brewing kombucha, which includes brewing a gallon of black or green tea, adding a cup of sugar, and once the tea has cooled to room temperature add the starter culture; you can get a starter by purchasing commercial kombucha at a retailer such as Whole Foods or online for a few bucks. Know that the starter culture is often called the mother, mushroom, or SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast).
Kombucha has also gained popularity in maker circles recently as editor of MAKE and Boing Boing Mark Frauenfelder wrote a chapter about it in his recent DIY manifesto Made By Hand: Search for Meaning in a Throwaway World. While the drink can offer benefits, there are also concerns—apparently there have been a few cases of it being harmful. Frauenfelder's post on kombucha at BoingBoing details the pros and cons quite well.
Kombucha | One Green Tomato


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GPS spoofing, will we ever learn?
Hat's off to Professor Todd Humphreys and his grad students for not only demonstrating that GPS spoofing is possible but for doing so in such a dramatic fashion that they got the whole media world chattering about it. For instance, Fox News led their story with "The world's GPS system is vulnerable to hackers or terrorists who could use it to hijack ships — even commercial airliners, according to a frightening new study that exposes a huge potential hole in national security." While I think that's an overheated conclusion, I suspect that we may need an even greater scare to finally build out a secondary form of civilian electronic position fixing…
What the University of Texas at Austin engineering team did is probably best described at their own site and in their YouTube video. In short, they were able to fool a serious GPS navigation system into thinking it was going some place it wasn't, which is far more sinister than GPS jamming. No alarms sounded, and the autopilot started steering some place the crew didn't realize their vessel was going. The fact that Humphreys managed to conduct this experiment on an 80 million dollar superyacht, with a proper captain and crew in whites, mainly served to make the story a lot more compelling.
The fact is that GPS spoofing has been a worry for many years. One of my most memorable interviews took place in 2001 with a former administrator of the FAA named Langhorne Bond. We had a phone conversation that went on for hours and then he followed with a 116-page fax further detailing the dangers of over-dependence on GPS. The PMY article that followed — The Dark Side of GPS — quotes Bond thusly: "If we rely on GPS alone, there is the risk, indeed the likelihood, of multiple aviation and marine catastrophes."
That was back when many experts like Bond were lobbying to convert the existing Loran system into a modern eLoran version that would nicely backup GPS using an entirely different technology that's harder to jam or spoof. But the Obama administration killed the U.S. eLoran project in 2010 and at least some of the old towers were destroyed. Heck, the U.S. Congress just completely cut the FAA's 20 million dollar budget for GPS modernization!
It's great to see companies like Garmin incorporating the Russian GLONASS version of Global Navigation Satellite Systems — or GNSS, with "GPS" being the American version — into even the smallish GPSmap 741 seen above monitoring both systems from here in Camden, Maine. The more satellites the better for accuracy as well as reliability in difficult conditions. But I believe that GPS jamming is fairly easy to extend to GLONASS as well as Chinese and European GNSS in development, and it's noteworthy that South Korea, which actually does get jammed by their northern neighbor, has decided to build an eLoran system.
Then again, there's never been a malevolent use of GPS spoofing that I know of, and I suspect that the spoofed White Rose of Drachs crew would have seen a problem before anything catastrophic happened, because they use other means of navigation like radar, depth sensing, and magnetic heading. Like we all do, right? I fear we'll have to wait for a really good backup electronic positioning system, but in the meantime, I'm not sure there's a better presentation on where "GPS" is heading, and the booby traps involved, than Todd Humrphey's TED talk, which begins with the important slide below. The better it works, the worse it may hurt when it doesn't.


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Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
NEW YORK (AP) - Forest Laboratories says it plans to cut about 500 jobs as part of a plan to trim $500 million in costs over the next two years.
The drugmaker also plans to buy back at least $400 million in company stock and agreed to pay $240 million for the U.S. marketing rights to Saphris, a Merck & Co. drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania.
The moves come less than three months after former Bausch & Lomb leader Brenton Saunders replaced longtime CEO Howard Solomon at the helm of Forest Laboratories Inc. Shares rose $5.01, or 9.8 percent, to close at $56.32. The stock peaked earlier at $56.72, its highest point since February 2007.
The job cuts make up about 9 percent of the company's staff. It had 5,800 employees as of March 31. Most of the cuts will be made in the U.S. Forest said that it won't make cuts to staff responsible for filing for approval of important late-stage drugs.
The New York company said most of the spending cuts will be made by the end of March 2016. Forest expects to save $270 million from streamlining its research and development operations, $150 million from cutting marketing expenses, and the remainder from reductions in general, administrative and other spending.
Forest will buy back $400 million in stock by the end of 2013, funded in part from the sale of $1 billion in debt due in 2021. The company could spend the remaining $600 million on share repurchases, which can help lift earnings per share, but it said it will place a priority on merger, acquisition and licensing deals that would add to its profits.
Forest will pay Merck $240 million to get the U.S. rights to Saphris, and it could make additional payments if the drug reaches sales targets. Saphris was launched in 2009, and Forest said sales totaled $150 million over the 12 month-period that ended in September. It expects the deal to close in early 2014 and said it should add to its profit immediately.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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Generally, completed reports are not revised, and re-inspections are not required. The information contained in the report is to be used as a disclosure. If a life safety issue is discovered or a mandatory correction is required, a permit or re-inspection may be required.
Show All Answers
Complaints should be filed as quickly as possible when alleged deviations are discovered so that they can be investigated and promptly resolved prior to completion of the construction work if possible.
After receiving a complaint, the Building Official or his/her designee will investigate all allegations within fourteen (14) days of receiving the complaint. The investigation will include interviews with: (a) the complainant; (b) the business owner, if a Private Project, or the responsible City Department or other public agency, if a Public Project; and (c) any other person the Building Official believes to have relevant knowledge concerning the complaint.
The Building Official also will consider any written or photographic evidence that is provided. After completing the investigation, the Building Official will review the factual information gathered through the investigation to determine whether the allegation is in fact a deviation from the Law. For Public Projects undertaken by the City, the City shall then take all actions necessary to correct any deviation from the Law which it confirms as a result of any investigation within ninety (90) days of the confirmation of such deviation, unless the deviation or deviations are so substantial that they cannot be corrected within ninety (90) days of confirmation. In such circumstances, a specific timetable shall be prepared to assure that the deviations will be corrected within a reasonable period of time.
For Public Projects of other public entities, the City will forward the complaint to the appropriate state or federal agency. These agencies will process the complaint in accordance with their own regulations and procedures.
For Private Projects, the City shall send the responsible party and/or owner a written notice of violation demanding that the deviation be corrected within ninety (90) days of the confirmation of such deviation, unless the deviation or deviations are so substantial that they cannot be corrected within ninety (90) days of confirmation. In such circumstances, a specific timetable will be prepared to assure that the deviations will be corrected within a reasonable period of time. If the responsible party and/or owner does not correct the deviation within ninety (90) days, commence to correct it if it is of such magnitude that it cannot be corrected within ninety (90) days, or comply with the timetable prepared by the City for correcting the deviation, the City shall refer the matter to the City Attorney for appropriate legal action.
Within seven days of receipt of each complaint, the City shall send a letter to the complainant confirming receipt of the complaint, along with a timetable and a description of the process that will be used by the City in investigating the complaint and preparing a response.
After completion of the investigation, the City shall provide the complainant with another letter advising the complainant of the resolution of the complaint, including informing the complainant about his or her right of appeal. Where the City determines that any or all of the violations alleged in a complaint are unfounded, the City's letter shall include the factual and legal basis for such determination. In addition, upon completion of the corrections of the deviations where required, the Compliance Officer will then notify the complainant in writing of the completion of the remedial work. Also, the complainant will be notified if the matter is referred to the City Attorney for appropriate legal action.
If you own a septic system and need assistance with your system, contact Marin County Environmental Health Services:
The connection referred to here is not the physical connection of the sewer pipe. It refers to allowing a dwelling unit to have its sewage transported by the City system and processed by the SASM treatment plant. The connection charge for second units is $1,250 for dwelling units less than 700 Square feet and $4,000 for units greater than 700 square feet. In addition, an annual Sewer Service Charge of $297 is levied on the second unit. The physical connecting of a second unit may also require a Plumbing Permit from the Building Department for work on private property and an Encroachment Permit for that portion of the work in the right-of-way.
There are several methods to submit a complaint:
Persons may also use the 711 Relay System to request complaint forms. When describing the alleged violation, additional documentation such as photographs also would be very helpful. Complaints must be filed with the ADA Coordinator:
The purpose of this procedure is to provide individuals with a convenient method to report disability access law violations in Mill Valley, and to establish a process for resolving as promptly as possible alleged violations of state disabled access regulations in either (i) buildings, -structures, sidewalks, curbs, and related facilities that are owned or leased by the City of Mill Valley or that are constructed or altered with city funds ("public projects"), or (ii) privately owned public accommodations (i.e., businesses that are open to the public) that are not publicly funded ("private projects").
State law requires all public and private projects to be accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities. See California Government Code 4450 et seq. for public projects and Cal. Health and Safety Code 19955 et seq. for private projects. The State Architect has issued specifications for the construction or alteration of buildings and structures in the State Building Code, which is published as part of the California Building Code and which is often referred to as "Title 24" reflecting where it was formerly located in the California Code of Regulations, Under state law, the City is responsible for complying with Title 24 in its public projects and for enforcing the Title 24 requirements in private projects that are subject to the City's jurisdiction through the City's building permit and building inspection programs. For certain projects built before the first version of Title 24 was adopted in 1981, the applicable standards are the 1961 American Standards Association Standard (the "ASA Standards"). In addition, California Civil Code Sections 54 and 54.1 require that persons with disabilities have equal access to accommodations available to the public, and make a violation of the federal Americans with Disability Act also a violation of state law. For a detailed description of these state laws and regulations, please see Exhibit A. For the purposes of this Procedure, all of the above-referenced laws and regulations shall be referred to as the "Law."
Anyone who believes that a public or private project does not comply with the law because it contains deviations from the specifications set forth in the law may file a complaint under this procedure. An authorized representative of such a person may also file a complaint on the complainant's behalf. To the extent authorized by law, the identity of the complainant will be kept confidential.
Persons with disabilities or others needing assistance should contact the following to request an appointment:
Before requesting the Residential Building Report, please view the City Limits page to verify that the property is located in our jurisdiction. A listing of streets within Mill Valley's city limits can be found on this page as well. Then follow the instructions HERE to obtain a report.
The primary purpose of the inspection is to provide a cursory review of the property and will identify any life safety or sanitation issues having the potential to cause injury. We also look to identify any illegal construction and unpermitted second units.


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About Us
Hello and welcome to Evolving Personal Finance! This is a personal finance blog where we discuss money topics for the forward-thinking 20- or 30-something. Frequently covered topics are budgeting, finances in marriage, careers, living well on less, saving and investing, and transitions common for young adults.
Emily writes most of the posts for EPF and Kyle runs the website back end. We are both 29 years old and were married in 2010. In 2014 we both completed PhDs, Emily's in biomedical engineering and Kyle's in computational biology. We currently live in Durham, North Carolina, but will likely move for our next jobs in early 2015.
Our financial journey documented on EPF started in 2007 when we graduated from college and became financially independent from our parents. Kyle had a few thousand dollars in savings and Emily had no savings and $16,000 in student loans and soon after a $3500 car loan. We each started out earning around $25,000 per year in grad school. Over the next seven years until we graduated, we diligently saved and invested and grew our net worth to over $100,000, even though we still only made about $55,000 together by the end of grad school.
Documented on EPF are our financial successes and failures and everything in between. We have moved locally twice, downsized to one car, funded targeted savings accounts, tithed, maxed out Roth IRAs, traveled (mostly to weddings)… and we still feel wealthy. We report our spending each month and keep a detailed budget.
As of the summer of 2014, we are into our first major financial transition since founding EPF. Kyle is working as a postdoc and Emily is funemployed. On the horizon for us are: a move to another city, real jobs, babies, a house… In short, the American dream, but with financial stability.
Please join us on our journey as our finances evolve by subscribing to our RSS feed or following us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us get to know you by commenting or sending an email to evolvingPF at gmail dot com.
While we are committed to having a balanced and financially sustainable life, we are not financial professionals and this site is for entertainment purposes only.
33 Responses to "About Us"
Hi Emily….
Just stumbled on your site and look forward to exploring further. cool to see you are a physics major.
Have you read Knocking on Heaven's Door? I was impressed enough to post about it:
I'm fairly sure I know a graduate of your PhD program (who is now a professor at UT-Austin)… what a small small world.
Great blog you all! I hope we can share content with each other!
I like your blog! I hope you keep it up and I think the grad student perspective is awesome!
Julia recently posted..Ditch the car to save money! -
I've been reading EPF for weeks but just got around to ambling over to the About Page. Howdy, fellow physics grad! Got mine in 2009; I've been considering grad school for hydrology.
Edward Antrobus recently posted..Best Tips for Your Taxes: Yakezie Blog Swap -
Power PhD couple, nice!
I'm going to publish a pretty indepth article on my thoughts as this is what I'm considering on my sabbatical. I hope to get your input once published. It'll go up this weekend or next week!
Financial Samurai recently posted..The Average Net Worth For The Above Average Person -
This is off topic, but could I email you and ask you how you like North Carolina? I live in CA but am thinking of checking out the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. Thanks!
Little House recently posted..Small Cabin Inspiration -
Hi Emily!
Just found your site through a comment on another PF blog I follow. What a great ABOUT US story you have. You both sound like very brilliant people and I look forward to getting to know you both and your blog. Cheers Mr.CBB
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..The Grocery Game Challenge October 1-7, 2012-Giving Thanks! -
Emily and Kyle, nice to meet you both! I look forward to reading your blog, especially sustainability posts. Kyle, you're not the only one who likes League of Legends – most people don't know this but I'm sort of a gamer nerd myself 🙂
Veronica Hill recently posted..34 Money Tips from Top Personal Finance Bloggers -
Thanks for doing the interview on our blog! Congrats on winning the unbiased blog award! =)
Josh @ FutureAdvisor recently posted..401k Fees are Determined by HR Dept. Negotiation Skills -
Hi Emily and Kyle,
I was just finishing up reading a few of your more recent posts on Evolving Personal Finance. I really like the content that you come up with. I wanted to further reach out to you because I have a team of writers and we would love to contribute to your site by creating premium editorial posts – which all feature fresh, trending content developed by our in-house team, tailored to your audience.
You reap the benefits with unique, compelling posts aimed at your target audience to improve your website visibility, drive traffic and promote social interest & shares. All posts we create are original and developed for your site only.
If you already have an editorial calendar in place, we'd like to contribute! Or, if you're new to these opportunities, we encourage you to give it a try.
Please do let me know if this caters to your interest, or if there are any particular topics you would like for us to write about.
Looking forward to your positive response!
Isabel Rocca -
Hi Emily and Kyle. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, Grayson from Debt Roundup informed me about you guys. I'm a local too (Fuquay). It looks as if we have a number of PF bloggers in the area! I'm looking forward to reading your posts!
Jose recently posted..The Bull Market – Are You Running with the Bulls or with the Lemmings? -
Hello Emily and Kyle, stumbled onto this blog through yakezie challenge. Hope to meet learn from you and create synergy we can both leverage.
[…] Post by Emily as part of our Side Hustle […]
Hi Emily,
Just let you know that I found your blog! Tons of content here. I will certainly find time to read these articles.See you around!
Yi-Fan -
[…] About Us […]
Hello guys,
Curious if you're debt free at this point? If so, I'm working on a blog series and possibly an e-book I'd like to feature you in. Email me at 19drwhite [at] gmail and I'd be happy to tell you more.
I have an engineer friend who is on contract to work in Africa for 3 more months. He said a vendor owes him for equipment and needs to pay to an American account. My friend has asked me to accept the money in my account, then forward the funds to his account in Africa. I don't want this money to look like it is my earned income, would it look that way?


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Hoping to stir up a little debate on a somewhat taboo topic, art critic Max Kozloff has mounted a historical exhibition of street photography that dares to define a Jewish aesthetic. "New York: Capital of Photography," at The Jewish Museum through September, argues that there're two kinds of New York photography: Jewish and gentile.
"It's totally provocative," Kozloff says, chuckling to himself during an interview at the press opening.
"All the gentile photographers assume that democracy is an accomplished fact," Kozloff explains. Jews are less sure of themselves. "Jewish photographers move through territory they can't quite say they've claimed." For them, everyone is displaced in America, or at least in the teeming streets of New York.
Kozloff makes much of his case in the final chapter of the catalogue. Exhibit A is Walker Evans' 1930 headshot of a stylish woman impassively negotiating the crowds of Times Square. Exhibit B is Lou Stoumen's 1940 picture of a wistful young man set against the giant marquee of the Strand Theater as a quizzical passerby looks on.
According to Kozloff, the former photograph demonstrates the containment of chaos in discovered structure, while the latter invokes psychic distinctions. In other words, one is goyish, the other Jewish.
Kozloff expects many people to disagree. "It's a risky thesis. Ethnic aesthetics are not so fashionable these days, particularly as concerns a class of white males." (In fact, many great Jewish photographers are women.)
The Jewish role in photography has only rarely been examined, most notably in George Gilbert's self-published "The Illustrated Worldwide Who's Who of Jews in Photography," with 550 biographies from Spinoza (who made lenses) to the inventors of Kodachrome (Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, Jr.). But the 80-year-old photographer and historian, who quickly sold out of 1,000 copies, lacks the energy to put out a new edition unless he finds a commercial publisher.
The author of several books on photography and a street shooter himself, Kozloff approached The Jewish Museum four years ago to organize this exhibition, his second effort as a curator.
Over two-thirds of the photographers in the show are Jewish, Kozloff says, and if he were to reshuffle the deck and examine a different aspect of photography in New York, like fashion or abstraction, the ratio would be much the same. While Jews are overrepresented in many modern cultural forms in America, they may be most ubiquitous in photography.
"I'm Jewish myself; I knew it had to be talked about. And The Jewish Museum egged me on."
Kozloff's exhibition wall texts, however, are far more neutral in presenting Jewish aesthetics of New York street photography. The emphasis is on seeing the vastness of the city through its humbling architecture and chic, downtrodden and oddball citizens. The images emanate from high-energy node: Coney Island, Times Square and Wall Street.
"Outsiderness wasn't an impediment, but was the experience," says Kozloff. Jewish street photographers were highly conscious of the dynamic among self, subject and setting. Jews were also the first to document the everyday lives of Harlem and Chinatown.
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"There's no simple answer to any of these questions," says Howard Greenberg, a photography dealer and the largest single lender to the exhibition, with 21 of the show's 105 photos. He's eager to read Kozloff's catalogue, but is skeptical about sweeping generalizations. "You find exceptions galore."
Kozloff intends to make several other points with "New York: Capital of Photography" to articulate his passion for aggressive documentary photography.
"It's sort of a polemical show to go against the grain of the [art world's] perceived animosity toward the active witness," Kozloff says. In the past 20 years, he says, art galleries have been enthralled with digitally altered, staged and conceptual photography, like the images of Cindy Sherman.
The emphasis on direct representation of the human figure in "New York: Capital of Photography" serves Kozloff's thesis well. He begins with classic early 20th century photographs by Karl Struss, Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand that record Manhattan as a state of mind rather than a lived experience. But by turning his lens to the human condition, Lewis Hine is the one Kozloff considers to be "the foundation figure of New York photography."
Although Hine was not Jewish, the artists he most greatly influenced were Jews, especially Ben Shahn and those in the Photo League, founded in 1936. This period marked the birth of socially conscious street photography.
The next section of the exhibit focuses on how the Depression pushed the individual to the forefront. Alongside the earnestness, a certain sardonic humor surfaces, first with Margaret Bourke-White's maddening image of Sergei Eisenstein having a shave on her terrace (1930). In the next few decades, many biting pictures emerged from dark masters Weegee, Diane Arbus, Lisette Model and Garry Winogrand.
But these are all familiar names. Another of Kozloff's aims is to expand the story of New York photography by showing lesser-known artists, like Saul Leiter, Louis Faurer, Ted Croner, Sid Grossman, who produced some of the most challenging, personal photographs of the 1940s and '50s.
Close attention to the social subject fades in the final section, which covers the 1970s to the present. Some current practicioners, like Larry Fink, Nan Goldin, Mary Ellen Mark and Sylvia Plachy, are worthy heirs to the mid-century masters. But Jeff Jacobson, Ralph Gibson and Jeff Mermelstein may be somewhat overwhelmed by the rawness of New York, turning their attention to amusing details like shoes and dogs.
Though the checklist was finalized in November 2000, The Jewish Museum show arrives on a wave of New York photography shows mounted by numerous museums and galleries since Sept. 11 to lift the spirit of a wounded metropolis. "Life of the City: A Photographic Celebration of New York," with 150 images from its collection and dozens of others by average citizens, has been on view at the Museum of Modern Art since February.
Opening Tuesday, "New York, New York: Photographs from the Collection" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art takes a longer view, beginning with Edward Anthony's "Broadway on a Rainy Day" (1859). Among its 60 works, Jews are most heavily concentrated in areas devoted to street photography, like Leon Levinstein's "Handball Players, Lower East Side" (1958) and cultural diversity, like Weegee's "The Morning's Bagels" (1940).
To acknowledge Sept. 11, The Jewish Museum added a single image by Jeff Mermelstein, who shot 14 rolls of film near ground zero the afternoon of the attack. The well-known sculpture of a male office worker peers in his briefcase, covered in gray dust, awash in a sea of papers and debris from the collapsed towers. "It's a quiet, reflective moment on how this event has changed New York," says exhibition coordinator Karen Levitov.
The image resonates with many others that record places and people lost to the narcissism of progress. Tragedy may have animated New Yorkers' interest in their city's past, but for many Jewish photographers, tragedy was always just around the corner.
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"The show reveals some dimension of the enormous effort [of the photographer] to take personal account for the camera," says Kozloff.
"Only after the show, I realized I was a Jewish photographer, too."
"New York: Capital of Photography" runs through Sept. 2 at The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave., (212) 423-3200.


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2011 AMA Supercross
The Honda Red Riders took on round three of the 2011 AMA Supercross series, an FIM World Championship at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, Jan. 22.
The weekend's racing marked the first-ever Supercross event held at the renowned Dodger Stadium and American Honda Racing's Trey Canard brought the battle to the Supercross competition aboard his Honda CRF450R.
Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda's Cole Seely recorded his career-best result aboard his Honda CRF250R by winning the first-ever Supercross Lites West Championship race at this prominent venue.
With teammate Josh Grant out with an injury, Canard was American Honda Racing's sole representative in the Supercross competition.
After crashing hard in his heat race, Canard transferred to the main event by way of the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) race. Getting a mid-pack start in the main and rounding the opening lap in seventh position, Canard quickly set about working his way through the pack and moved into the number three spot by lap four.
He fought his way into second position by the midway point in the race only to relinquish two places before the race's end and he finished a solid fourth overall.
Trey Canard (Honda Supercross) says: "Boy was it a tough night of racing for me. I really hit the ground hard in my heat race and by the midway point in the main I was starting to feel the effects of that crash. I had some good battles for second and third but in the end fourth place was the best I could do tonight.
"It was amazing to watch the whole American Honda Racing team come together to repair my bike in time for the LCQ race. I could tell I was watching a well-oiled machine as everyone did their part to get my bike back together in time for the race. I'm just glad we were able to get back out there and I'm glad I was able to ride a strong race in the main event."
GEICO Honda's Kevin Windham put in a solid effort aboard his Honda CRF450R to record his second sixth-place result of the season. Chad Reed dug deep to recover from an opening-lap crash and charged from 19th place to seventh position by the race's end aboard his TwoTwo Motorsports Honda CRF450R.
In the Supercross Lites West competition, Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda's Cole Seely dominated the entire field aboard his Honda CRF250R in taking his first-ever Supercross Lites race win.
In the main, Seely cranked off a hot start and quickly seized control of the race. Once in the lead, he never relinquished control and went on to score his first-ever Supercross victory. Also recording a personal-best result, GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac finished runner-up aboard his CRF250R.
The rookie racer's second-place finish gave Honda the top two spots in the class at the inaugural Dodger Stadium Supercross. Teammate Jimmy DeCotis finished eighth aboard his GEICO Honda CRF250R, while Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda's Travis Baker finished 12th.
Supercross Lites Main Event, Dodger Stadium, LA
1. Cole Seely (Honda)
2. Eli Tomac (Honda)
3. Ryan Morais
4. Broc Tickle
5. Josh Hansen
6. Ken Roczen
7. Ryan Marmont
8. Jimmy Decotis (Honda)
9. Nick Paluzzi
10. Kyle Cunningham
Supercross Lites West Points (after 3 of 9 rounds)
1. Josh Hansen 66
2. Broc Tickle 62
3. Cole Seely 59
4. Ryan Morais 55
5. Eli Tomac 49
6. Tyla Rattray 42
7. Martin Davalos 40
8. Travis Baker 35
9. Ken Roczen 31
10. Nick Paluzzi 30
Supercross Main Event, Dodger Stadium, LA
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. James Stewart
3. Ryan Dungey
4. Trey Canard (Honda)
5. Justin Brayton
6. Kevin Windham (Honda)
7. Chad Reed (Honda)
8. Brett Metcalfe
9. Andrew Short
10. Kyle Chisholm
Supercross Championship Points (after 3 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Villopoto 72
2. James Stewart 67
3. Ryan Dungey 58
4. Trey Canard 56
5. Chad Reed 48
6. Brett Metcalfe 39
7. Andrew Short 37
8. Justin Brayton 36
9. Kyle Chisholm 33
10. Kevin Windham 32


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Story highlights
At least 16 others are injured in the Friday explosion near a mosque in Eastleigh
Recent explosions have rocked the East African nation
Last month, a grenade attack killed seven and triggered riots in the area
A blast ripped through a neighborhood in Kenya's capital, killing three people in the second attack in three days targeting the predominantly Somali area.
At least 16 others were injured in the Friday explosion near a mosque in Eastleigh, according to the Kenya Red Cross.
It was the second attack in three days targeting the Nairobi neighborhood.
On Wednesday, another blast left eight people injured – three critically with severe head wounds, the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Recent explosions have rocked the East African nation, including a grenade attack last month that triggered riots in Eastleigh. The grenade was hurled at a minibus full of passengers driving through the neighborhood.
Following that attack, angry mobs scorched and looted Somali-owned shops in the area.
Somalis in the area stoned the attackers, triggering riots that prompted police to respond with teargas.
Grenade attacks have escalated since Kenya sent its forces to neighboring Somalia last year to battle the Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked group it blamed for kidnapping foreigners in the nation.
Authorities have also blamed the terror group and its sympathizers for the grenade and gun attacks in Kenya.
Assailants have targeted both churches and mosques, raising concerns about retaliatory attacks.
Kenyan forces are engaged in a fight in Somalia to debilitate the militants. The group once held large territories in Somalia, but has lost significant ground in the past year, including its southern base of Kismayo. The forces seized the port city in September.
CNN's Alden Mahler Levine and Pierre Meilhan contributed to this report


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The NBA's reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo may seem unstoppable, but he proved no match for a troubled tooth. Antetokounmpo, the self-proclaimed "Greek Freak," missed one of the final three 2020 regular season games for a dental issue that resulted in last-minute oral surgery. According to a Milwaukee Bucks spokesperson, the star underwent "a root-canal like procedure."
Root canal therapy, often simply called "a root canal," may be needed when there is an infection inside the tooth. When dental pulp becomes inflamed or infected, excruciating pain can result. Pulp is the soft tissue that fills the inside of the tooth. It is made up of nerves, blood vessels and connective tissue. During root canal treatment, the pulp is removed, the space inside the tooth is disinfected, it is filled with a special material, and then the hole is sealed up.
A root canal is nothing to fear. It relieves pain by getting rid of infection and is so effective that over 15 million of them are performed in the U.S. each year. This routine procedure generally requires only local anesthetic, and your mouth should be back to normal within a day or two after treatment. Antetokounmpo can attest to that, as he returned to play the next day.
However, delaying root canal treatment when you need it can have serious consequences. If left untreated, an infection inside the tooth continues to spread, and it may move into the gums and jaw and cause other problems in the body. So, how do you know if you may need a root canal? Here are some signs:
Lingering sensitivity to hot or cold temperatures. One sign of nerve damage inside your tooth is pain that is still there 30 seconds after eating or drinking something hot or cold.
Intense pain when biting down. You may feel pain deep within your tooth, or in your jaw, face or other teeth. The pain may be hard to pinpoint—and even if it improves at times, it usually comes back.
A chipped, cracked or discolored tooth. A chip or crack can allow bacteria to enter the tooth, and the tooth may darken if the tissue inside is damaged.
A pimple on the gum. A bump or pimple on the gum that doesn't go away or keeps coming back may signify that a nearby tooth is infected.
Tender, swollen gums. Swollen gums may indicate an infection inside the tooth or the need for periodontal treatment.
And sometimes there is no pain, but an infection may be discovered during a dental exam.
Tooth pain should never be ignored, so don't put off a dental visit when you have a toothache. In fact, if a bad toothache goes away, it could mean that the nerves inside the tooth have died, but the infection may still be raging. Also, be sure to keep up with your regular dental checkups. We may spot a small problem that can be addressed before it becomes a bigger problem that would require more extensive treatment.
Remember, for dental issues both large and small, we're on your team! If you would like more information about tooth pain, please call your dentist in Zionsville, Indiana. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine articles "Tooth Pain? Don't Wait!" and "Root Canal Treatment: What You Need to Know."


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The DeKi Programming Journal (DKPJ) is both a tool in coding German Wotan open-source artificial intelligence (AI) and an archival record of the history of how the German Supercomputer AI evolved over time.
In our efforts to implement InFerence in the Wotan German AI, we have gotten the AI to stop asking "HABEN EVA KIND?" but now AskUser is outputting "HAT EVA DIE KIND" as if the German noun "Kind" for "child" were feminine instead of neuter. We should investigate to see if the DeArticle module has a problem.
By the use of a diagnostic message, we have learned that the DeArticle module is finding the accusative plural "DIE" form without regard to what case is required. Now we need to coordinate DeArticle more with the AskUser module, so that when AskUser is seeking a direct object, so will DeArticle. There has already long been a "dirobj" flag, but it is perhaps time to use something more sophisticated, such as "dobcon" or even "acccon" for an accusative "statuscon". After a German preposition like "mit" or "bei" that requires the dative case, we may want to use a flag like "datcon" for a dative "statuscon". So perhaps now we should use "acccon" in preparation for using also "gencon" and "datcon" or maybe even "nomcon" for nominative.
A better "statuscon" for coordinating between AskUser and DeArticle is "dbacon", because it can be used for all four declensional cases in German. When we use "dbacon" and when we make the "LEAVE" statement come immediately after the first instance of selecting an article with the correct "dbacon", we obtain "HAT EVA DAS KIND" as the question from AskUser after the input of "eva ist eine frau". We still need to take gender into account, so we may declare a variable of "mfncon" to coordinate searches for words having the correct gender.


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YLI Ribbon Floss |
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Knowing that I'm always happy to get something new and glowy, my wife brought home a cheap "floating pool light" that she found on sale for roughly $10. This is a large white floating ball that has LEDs inside and cycles through different colors. Meant to be put into a pool for neat effects, we found it to be much more interesting just used around the house.
However, it was a bit too bright and cycled colors too quickly for our taste. It was actually somewhat distracting when we were just trying to sit and have a few beers late at night on our patio. This gave me a perfect excuse to tear it apart and start hacking… like I wasn't going to do that anyway.
What I found inside was extremely simple. There's a single un-marked chip that holds the different display modes (there were 3 display modes: warm, cool, and white). The LEDs were arranged in an array of Reds, Blues, Greens, and Whites (half marked yellow).
My goal was to make this a little more tolerable as mood lighting, so I needed to draw up a plan. I have an arduino sitting here from the redbull contest, so I figured why not hook it up to that? It would allow full PWM control of the channels and I could do some pre-programmed sequences if I wanted.
This was ridiculously easy. All I needed to do was solder leads on to each of the LED channels. There are already great tutorials on how to run PWM from the arduino and a couple quick additions would give me direct controls over each channel via potentiometers. So problem solved right?
Well, sort of. It really bugs me that there's an entire arduino there just for some PWM. I can go buy the components to do 555 timer PWM circuits if all I want is PWM. Then again, if I compare the price, that free arduino is a much cheaper solution than buying 2xcaps, 1×555, 1xtransistor, and assorted resistors and diodes, especially if consider that I'd have to buy it all in triplicate.
Ultimately if I wanted to just leave this as PWM control on each channel, I'd opt for the 555 circuit. What else is there to do with a glowing ball? Simple notification system? Sound reactive? Give me some ideas.


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Will I have the freedom to do what I want, when I want? You will enjoy the same degree of freedom you would have in any apartment building or private home. You can come and go as you please. There are no restrictions or curfews, and it's up to you how you spend your time. For security reasons, we do ask that you let us know if you plan to be away for any length of time. This gives you, and us, peace of mind. Are the menus varied? What if I feel like a snack? Our chefs make several different delicious meals every day, along with a number of à la carte items. Everything is freshly prepared, and the menu varies according to the season and local market availability. If you feel like a snack, most of our residences have a bistro or cafe you can visit throughout the day. What happens if my health needs change? Our services evolve to meet changing needs. That means personalized services are available to you when you need them. As you require additional support, we'll work with you and your family to develop a plan that's right for you, with the support of our team of registered nurses and personal support workers. What sorts of activities can I expect? Each of our retirement residences offers a variety of activities every day based on the preferences expressed by our residents. Expect outings to live performances, on-site learning seminars, fitness classes, wellness programs, and games tournaments with other residents. In line with our approach, our exclusive Signature Services are designed to promote wellness of your mind, body, and spirit. Visit a retirement residence to learn more about the daily activities they offer. Can my family come for a visit? Absolutely. In many of our residences, there are guest suites for your family to stay in, and larger rooms you can reserve for family reunions or parties. You can even reserve a table at mealtimes to eat with your family or visiting friends. What is the difference between a retirement residence and a long-term care community?
Offers an independent or assisted lifestyle to those who want freedom from the chores of home maintenance or cooking, and the comfort of knowing that our employees are available (if needed) 24/7
Serves frail seniors with complex health needs who require personal support and nursing services 24 hours a day, 7 days per week
Variety of suite styles and amenities, including studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units
Private and shared rooms
Private pay based on market rates
Rates are set by your provincial government. For more information, or to see if you qualify for government funding, contact your local health authority in Ontario or British Columbia.
Making the Decision
You can arrange to move directly with the residence of your choosing, based on availability and preferences.
You can apply for long-term care through your local health authority. They will determine if you are eligible, and assist you in applying to the homes you choose. Click on the links to contact your local health authority in British Columbia or the local LHIN in Ontario.
My question hasn't been answered. What can I do? Let us help! For more information, contact a Sienna Senior Living retirement residence and one of our team members will be happy to assist you.
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Janus was discovered by A. Dollfus in 1966. Janus is the 5th closest moon to Saturn, with a standoff distance of 151,472 km. Janus is one of the small moons, and is about the size of a county, at 110 x 80 km (75 x 53 miles) wide.Janus and Epimetheus orbit Saturn together. They are only 50 km (33 miles) apart as they orbit Saturn, which is a little like having two moons in the same city. The fact that they are so close may mean that they are two pieces of what may once have been a single moon.
As a small moon, the composition and surface features of Janus are unknown.


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I've created a mob trap using a canal and lava. The trap works fine, and I'm getting lots of mobs into it.
I am trying to automatically flow the loot via water into a different section of the trap. Here's the problem - while creating the water flow, I accidentally modified the water currents. Now the loot sometimes gets stuck in a part of the trap. If the loot is in any other part of the trap, it flows down perfectly.
Have a look at this image to see what I mean:
In the second image you'll see how there's a weird 'waterfall current' created.
How do I fix this? :(


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The price of the Nikon D600 in Japan is rumored to be ¥215,000 (around $2,700), the price of a D600 with 24-85mm kit lens: ¥270,000 (around $3,400). The camera is expected to start shipping on September 27, s012. I have received several indications that this time Nikon is ready to start shipping this camera very soon after the announcement.
The price of the Nikon 1 18.5mm f/1.8 mirrorless lens is expected to be around ¥26,000 (around $300) and will be available on November 1st, 2012 in black, white and silver color.
The US prices of Nikon gear are usually lower, but at that point I think we can forget about a sub-$2,000 full frame Nikon camera. The D800 costs around ¥298,000 in Japan and $3000 in the US. With this ratio, I expect the D600 US price to be around $2,100.


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The all-time poster child for a drug illegally promoted for off-label uses, is Neurontin, marketed by Warner-Lambert, and its Parke-Davis division, until Pfizer acquired the company in 2000.
The term "off-label" means prescribing a drug for indications not listed on the label, upping the recommended dose, prescribing a drug in combination with other medications, or using a drug with a patient population, such as children, not listed on the label.
As part of the approval process, the FDA reviews the drug's labeling, which must include the proposed claims about the drug's risks and benefits, as well as the directions for use.
If an indication is not listed, it means the drug maker has not submitted the required studies to prove the drug is safe and effective for that use. While physicians may prescribe a drug approved by the FDA for an unapproved use, it's against the law for a drug maker to influence doctors to prescribe a drug for uses outside the label.
Pfizer completed the acquisition of Warner-Lambert in June 2000, and four years later in May 2004, Pfizer pleaded guilty to illegally marketing Neurontin for unapproved uses and agreed to pay a $430 million, the second-largest settlement ever in a health care fraud prosecution, to settle charges brought by the US Department of Justice that included defrauding public health care programs.
The case specifically sought to recover the losses to public programs resulting from the off-label promotion of a drug and focused primarily on Medicaid, which spent an estimated $422 million on Neurontin between 1994 to mid-2000.
In the end, Pfizer paid $83.6 million to the federal government and $68.4 million to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, Pfizer agreed to pay the states a total of $38 million to settle liabilities under state consumer protection laws, and a $240 million criminal fine, according to the DOJ.
However, the settlement with the DOJ did not include damage awards for patients who may have been injured by Neurontin and many patients, or families representing deceased Neurontin victims, have filed lawsuits against the company.
Many of the cases are wrongful death actions based on the company's failure to warn about the risk of suicidality associated with the drug. In 2004, attorneys Derek braslow and Harris Pogust of the Pennsylvania law firm, Pogust & Braslow, began filing lawsuits on behalf of victims who became suicidal.
Pogust & Braslow represent plaintiff, Natalie Biedenbender, whose husband Mark committed suicide on July 9, 2005, at age 39, after being prescribed Neurontin off-label for back pain, in a wrongful death lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, from July 1995 through at least August 5, 2002, the company engaged in a marketing program "to induce physicians to prescribe Neurontin, for medical conditions for which the FDA had not approved Neurontin to be used."
That program, the complaint charges, included (a) illegally promoting the sale and use of Neurontin for a variety of conditions "for which defendants had not performed the required FDA testing or established safety and efficacy;" and (b) offering and paying illegal remuneration to doctors, "either directly or through third parties, to induce them to promote and prescribe Neurontin for off-label uses."
On May 17, 2004, Andrew Finkelstein, of the New York law firm of Finkelstein & Partners, submitted a citizen's petition to the FDA requesting that a black box suicide warning be added to the label and that a Dear Doctor letter be sent out to instructing physicians to be on alert for increased depression in patients taking the drug.
Mr Finkelstein also continued to remind the FDA about the rising number of suicides. In a March 21, 2005, letter to Dr Russell Katz, he wrote in part: "Enclosed you will find two hundred fifty eight MedWatch forms … Each represents a suicide of an American who was on Neurontin when he or she took his or her own life."
"Many of these suicides likely could have been prevented," he said, "had both the treating physician and unsuspecting families been armed with full knowledge of the risks of suicide that was known to both the FDA and the manufacturer."
But as it turns out, the FDA was fully aware of the suicidality risk when Neurontin was recommended for approval in 1992, and Dr Katz oversaw the FDA's analysis of the clinical data provided to support the New Drug Application.
According to Mr Finkelstein, the evaluation of serious adverse events during the original clinical trials showed the risk of suicide was known and a major concern. In the letter to Dr Katz, he pointed out that an FDA reviewer specifically stated in December, 1992:
Serious adverse events may limit the drug's widespread usefulness. Depression, while it may not be an infrequent occurrence in the epileptic population, may become worse and require intervention or lead to suicide, as it has resulted in some suicidal attempts during clinical trials.
In fact, in the clinical trials, Neurontin was attributed to four people actually attempting suicide, two more having depression with suicidal ideations, and 22 participants reporting depression so severe it required pharmacologic intervention. Most alarming was that 19 of the 78 participants who reported depression had no prior history of depression.
"Clearly," Mr Finkelstein told Mr Katz, "the FDA did not approve this drug with any expectation of use beyond the approved indication."
Documents that surfaced in litigation also show that the FDA was aware of the off-label marketing scheme eight years before the DOJ settlement. In July, 1996, FDA official, Lesley Frank, wrote to Parke-Davis and said in part:
Parke-Davis may be promoting Neurontin for off-label' uses … in printed promotional materials, in detail or sales presentations to physicians, and through the use of company-solicited physician participation in a series of teleconferences.
These promotions of Neurontin for off-label uses included, but were not limited to, its use in chronic pain, bipolar disorders, and other psychiatric conditions. As you are aware, Neurontin's only approved indication was for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial seizures with and without secondary generalization in adults with epilepsy.
The documents show that after 11 months, Parke-Davis sent a written response denying all the allegations and the FDA accepted the denials and the matter was dropped.
In reality, $430 million was chickenfeed to Pfizer, considering that at the time of the settlement, Neurontin sales were up 32% from 2003, and the 2004 sales were expected to exceed the $2.7 billion mark set in 2003. In actuality, the settlement amounted to only about 15% of the gross sales of Neurontin in 2003.
By 2002, a full 94% of Neurontin sales were for off-label use and according to the August 16, 2004, USA Today, when Pfizer settled the lawsuit, the Wall Street firm Lehman Bros estimated that 90% of the sales were still off-label.
At the time, Pfizer issued a statement that said the illegal practices took place before Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambert. However, sales figures clearly show that Pfizer was still reaping the benefits of the illegal promotion of Neurontin at the time of the settlement.
"Although Neurontin is prescribed for scores of off-label indications," Attorney Braslow reports, "since 2000 off-label use continues to be most common in the areas where the company focused its illegal marketing efforts such as bipolar disorder, peripheral neuropathy and migraine headaches."
"This increase," he points out, "is most likely a direct result of sales representatives and leading physicians, who were paid by the company recommending its use for these conditions."
According to Attorney Pogust, "there are no scientific studies that support Neurontin's use for pain disorders."
"But as a result of the company's previous promotional activities," he says, "tens of thousands of patients who could use other pain killing drugs whose effectiveness has been established, are given Neurontin."
"These prescriptions for pain," Mr Pogust notes, "are still being written, as a direct result of past illegal promotional activities."
"Likewise," he points out, "the off-label prescriptions of Neurontin for bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, and depression are also without any scientific evidence supporting such uses."
The off-label scheme was first revealed by whistleblower, David Franklin, a former Park-Davis employee who worked as a medical liaison, in a lawsuit against Warner-Lambert and its Parke-Davis division filed under the federal False Claims Act.
By Mr Franklin's estimates, as much as 90% of prescriptions for Neurontin were written off-label as a result of the illegal scheme which prosecutors claim dates back to1995. To back up his allegations, Mr Franklin offered a voicemail he saved from his boss that stated:
I want you out there every day selling Neurontin… holding their hand, whispering in their ear, Neurontin for pain, Neurontin for monotherapy, Neurontin for bipolar, Neurontin for everything. I don't want to see a single patient coming off Neurontin before they've been up to at least 4,800 milligrams a day.
His boss concluded by stating: "I don't want to hear that safety crap either. It's a great drug"
As a whistleblower in a case to recover federal funds, Mr Franklin was entitled to a percentage of the settlement and received $24.6 million.
The Drug Industry Document Archive (DIDA), created by the Center for Knowledge Management at the University of California San Francisco Library in collaboration with faculty members, contains roughly 1,000 documents drawn primarily from the case titled, United States ex rel David Franklin vs Parke-Davis, Division of Warner-Lambert, which describe all the specific details on the Neutontin off-label marketing scheme.
In settling the charges, Pfizer pleaded guilty only to conduct occurring before August 21, 1996, even though the DOJ determined that illegal activities had occurred much later, making it possible for Pfizer to continue to participate in federally funded health care programs despite a health care fraud law that went into effect on August 21, 1996, that would have required its exclusion from public programs.
Pfizer escaped the severe penalties, that many critics say would have sent a clear message to companies engaging in such conduct to knock it off or risk losing the most treasured customer base of all public health care programs, even though Warner-Lambert had been convicted of a felony in 1995, for failing to report failures concerning other drugs, which meant the new charges were second offenses "punishable as felonies without regard to proof of intent to defraud or mislead."
Initially, Neurontin was approved only to treat epilepsy in combination with another drug, and at a maximum 1800 mg daily dose. But the DOJ found the drug was being promoted for a multitude of pain uses, psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder and anxiety, social phobia, and general mood stabilization, as well as certain unapproved uses within epilepsy treatment. According to the DOJ, the list of unapproved uses became so long that company employees called it the "snake oil" list.
Over all, the DOJ listed the potential harm caused by the illegal scheme as:
(1) public health care programs paid more in reimbursement;
(2) consumers paid for ineffective, experimental use and may have been improperly medicated;
(3) patient's unnecessary exposure to adverse side effects; and
(4) improper medication may have resulted where Neurontin was not as effective as another approved drug.
The DOJ listed six tactics involved in carrying out the off-label scheme as:
(1) Detailing by sales representatives;
(2) Use of Medical Liaisons;
(3) Preceptorships;
(4) Consultant meetings, speakers bureaus and advisory boards;
(5) Series of teleconferences to disseminate off-label uses; and
(6) Control of Purportedly Independent Medical Education.
Another element of the overall scheme to increase profits was to convince doctors to prescribe Neurontin at substantially higher doses than the maximum approved dose.
The DOJ produced evidence to show that Parke-Davis had arranged hundreds of teleconferences, meetings, and educational seminars, in addition to the detailing of individual doctors by sales representatives, to promote the off-label use of Neurontin.
In 1996, a Parke-Davis sales representative created a document that said sales representatives could ask doctors if they ever used other antiepileptic drugs for painful neuropathies and then mention that approximately 35% of all Neurontin use is non-seizure. This same document, entitled "Neurontin Can Do/Can't Do," also stated that sales representatives could present lunch programs on Neurontin and pain.
According to Mr Franklin, the company gave financial incentives to hundreds of doctors by inviting them to dinners, sports outings, and weekend trips to resorts where fellow-physicians were paid to speak about the use of Neurontin for unapproved indications.
The company founded a speakers' bureau, as a method of making large payments to physicians who gave presentations and court documents show doctors were paid to listen to speeches that took place on a "Bus to Yankee Stadium," a "World Yacht Cruise," and the "Braves Stadium."
During one trip in 1996, Parke-Davis paid for 18 doctors and their spouses to stay in Atlanta for 5 days to attend the Summer Olympics. The company paid for their meals, use of a resort, and travel to the games while the agenda for the seminar listed only 10.5 hours of business meetings, including one devoted to off-label uses for Neurontin.
The DOJ determined that the company kept track of how well these marketing efforts paid off. For instance, in a memo dated June 26, 1995, a marketing executive reported that doctors who attended dinners and listened to speeches from other physicians, wrote 70% more off-label prescriptions than doctors who did not attend.
Documents show that the company intentionally hired influential doctors from major teaching hospitals to speak at these events. For instance, Dr Steven Schachter, a professor at Harvard Medical School, received $71,477 between May 1994 and September 1997, and Dr B J Wilder, a former professor at the University of Florida, was paid more than $300,000, and other doctors received more than $100,000 each.
The company also paid to disseminate papers and articles on off-label uses throughout the medical literature so that doctors would find themselves bombarded with information about the many uses for Neurontin, made to look like independent scientific papers.
For some uses, like monotherapy, the research was used to support an attempt to obtain FDA approval. But in other cases, the company's goal was to disseminate the information as widely as possible to increase off-label prescribing for conditions like pain and bipolar disorder, without ever trying to obtain approval.
To carry out this part of the scheme, Warner-Lambert hired two marketing firms to write the articles and then found doctors willing to sign on as authors. According to Mr Franklin, the PR firms were paid $12,000 per article and the doctors were paid $1,000.
The DOJ found more than twenty 20 articles published in various medical journals that were fully paid for by Parke-Davis. Critics say this tactic still affects off-label prescribing today. According to Mr Braslow, "since 1999, the types of off-label are most likely weighted in the precise areas where the drug maker focused its illegal marketing efforts: bipolar disorder, peripheral neuropathy, migraine, depression, etc."
"Because physicians were inundated with false information for years," Mr. Pogust says, "they continue to prescribe it for off-label uses for which there is no reliable scientific support."
Parke-Davis also infiltrated the continuing education arena where doctors were misled into believing that seminars on the off-label uses for Neurontin were independent educational programs, when they actually were marketing events set up by Park-Davis.
For example, prosecutors found an undisclosed relationship with a firm known as Physicians World where Parke-Davis employees transferred to the firm to run the company's speakers bureau.
At the same time, the DOJ discovered that in a division of Physicians World, known as Professional Post-Graduate Services, which purported to be an independent education provider presenting programs on anticonvulsants for pain to thousands of US doctors, Parke-Davis employees actually planned and developed the programs.
According to the DOJ, in late 1995, the company took the position that medical liaisons could discuss off-label issues with doctors, so long as the doctor asked a question about the topic first. Because physicians believed medical liaisons were persons with a scientific background and not employed to sell Neurontin, they were often able to gain access to doctors that the sales representatives could not.
For example, Mr Franklin was trained to increase the rate of prescriptions of Neurontin as monotherapy, and one of the ways he was able to gain access to doctors was by fraudulently presenting himself as a neurology specialist conducting research on epilepsy and the actions of anticonvulsant drugs.
Company records reveal an extensive pattern of misuse of medical liaisons. A January 31, 1996, memo describes a goal to "utilize the medical liaison group to target the Neurontin, Pain & Psychiatric market."
"Objective to conduct twice weekly Pain Teleconferences moderated by key Neuro Consultants," the memo states. "Goals 250 Physician participants quarterly."
One of the most alarming sales tactics identified during the DOJ's investigation was that sales representatives were allowed to review patient records, suggest an increase in Neurontin dosage, and "shadow" doctors while they examined patients, in exchange for paying the doctor a few hundred dollars a day.
According to the DOJ, at various times Parke-Davis made a conscious decision to not seek approval for a new use because it would have required solid proof from clinical trials that could not be provided.
Documents show that Parke-Davis even went to the trouble of determining how much could be made off Neurontin for a new approved use, compared to sales from marketing the drug off-label for the same use.
For example, a May 19, 1995, Marketing Assessment forecast potential revenue from Neurontin for bipolar without approval at $6 million in 1997, rising to $36 million in 1999. On the other hand, with approval, forecasted sales were almost $12 million in 1997, to over $80 million in 2002, but the company still decided not to seek approval for bipolar.
The DOJ found that similar projections were made for other uses including various types of pain but again, after evaluating the potential sales with and without approval, Parke-Davis decided to market Neurontin off-label instead of seeking approval.
The company also kept track of doctor's prescribing habits for Neurontin's competitors. In October of 1995, Parke-Davis determined that two competing epilepsy drugs, Tegretol and Depakote, had total sales of 18-27% for bipolar disorder, and up to 9% for pain, while at the time, only 1-2% of sales for Neurontin were for pain and bipolar.
The company continued to market the drug for bipolar even after studies showed it was ineffective for that use. The DOJ's sentencing Memorandum states: "One of the psychiatric uses for which Neurontin was promoted … bipolar disorder, was particularly troubling because the Company had very weak evidence of Neurontin's efficacy in treating this condition."
"Indeed," the prosecutor wrote, "in one study … the placebo was as effective or more effective than was Neurontin."
Yet with full knowledge of this study, medical liaisons told psychiatrists that early results from clinical trials indicated a 90% response rate for bipolar. Likewise, they told pediatricians that Neurontin was effective for children with attention deficit disorder, when no data other than occasional anecdotal evidence supported that claim.
And although no studies existed to prove that Neurontin was even as effective as inexpensive pain killers already on the market, medical liaisons told doctors that clinical trials demonstrated that Neurontin was highly effective in treating various pain syndromes and reported once again that a 90% response rate was found in the treatment of pain.
The DOJ also reports that the company continued to promote Neurontin for monotherapy even after the FDA refused to approve it. Parke-Davis sought approval in September 1996, but because one of the 2 clinical trials submitted with the application showed no demonstrable monotherapy efficacy, the application was denied.
Nonetheless, the DOJ produced evidence showing that Parke-Davis continued to promote Neurontin for monotherapy through at least 2000, without ever mentioning the rejected application, and that at one 1998 event, Parke-Davis went so far as to state that Neurontin is "now approved as monotherapy for seizures."
When caught red-handed promoting drugs for unapproved uses, drug makers always feign ignorance of the high rate of off-label prescribing. However in this instance, company documents show that Warner-Lambert regularly obtained detailed information on the number of prescriptions written for Neurontin and what indication they were written for.
Neurontin sales did finally drop to $182 million in the first quarter of 2005, but as a result of new generic competition on the market, according to USA Today on April 20, 2005.
Persons seeking information about Neurontin representation can contact the Pogust & Braslow law firm at 610-941-4204, or http://www.pogustbraslow.com/
EVELYN PRINGLE is an investigative journalist. She can be reached at: firstname.lastname@example.com
(This article is part of a series on Neurontin related litigation and is sponsored by the Pogust & Braslow law firm)


text:
The time – mid-1980's. The place – Camp Nor'wester, Lopez Island, WA. The meal – tacos.
Dinner was always family style at our camp and on taco night, each table of eight got a bowl with ground beef in it, slightly-stale taco shells, and a platter filled with cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce. Maybe there was a sour cream – I don't remember because I've never been a big sour cream person. Taco night was big at camp because the food was so filling – just what we needed after a long day of being outside in the sunshine. I will never forget that sensation of having taco meat grease run down my chin and the disappointment I would feel when the kitchen ran out of taco fixings. No matter how much they made, there was never enough. Somehow however, there were an almost infinite number of taco shells and we would try and content ourselves by licking them and then sprinkling them with salt to eat as chips.
I'm not sure how this is possible but I have not had a taco since then. I've had plenty of enchiladas and quesadillas. I've probably eaten my weight several times over in guacamole. But no tacos.
Until now!
I've always loved the idea of a soft corn tortilla filled with grilled vegetables and cheese. It seems like precisely the time that I get a craving for them is on a dark and stormy winter night and it just feels all wrong to eat something summery. Of course, I could fill a soft taco with lots of things but for my first go around, grilled vegetables sounded right.
I turned to Annie Sommerville's Fields of Greens and a recipe I have looked at longingly on many a winter night. As with many of the recipes in this book, she kind of overcomplicates something that is actually quite simple. So I have streamlined in the recipe that you see below. The good news about these tacos is that a) they are delicious, b) you can make a lot of tacos, c) the filling keeps really well for a couple of days so you can make them again if you have leftovers, and d) both my boys devoured them. When I made them using the leftovers, I also threw in some refried beans for the boys. Graham ( 5½ )ate two whole ones and Spencer (3) finished his, albeit having picked out every last vegetable.
Grilled Summer Vegetable Soft Tacos
Inspired by Fields of Greens
Serves 6-8
The diced potato in here does give the dish more body but it's also an extra step and more dishes to wash. You can omit it if you like. Substitute cotija cheese for the Cheddar if you prefer.
1 jalapeño chile, sliced in half and de-seeded
1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into thick strips
1 yellow pepper, cut lengthwise into thick strips
1 red onion, peeled and cut into ½-inch thick rings
1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and scored
1 yellow summer squash, cut in half lengthwise and scored
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 chipotle pepper, minced, plus 2 tsp. of the sauce
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, cut into ½-inch cubes
¼ cup water
¼ cup chopped cilantro
12 thick corn tortillas
About 1½ cups grated Cheddar cheese
Prepare the grill.
Place the onions, peppers, and squashes on a large sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and liberally sprinke with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables on the grill and cook, turning as needed, until completely tender. Remove from the grill and set aside.
Heat a bit of olive oil in a medium-size skillet and add the potatoes. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Lightly brown the potatoes over medium-high heat, using a spatula to loosen them as needed. Add the water, cover the pan, lower the heat, and simmer until completely tender, about 5 minutes. Tranfer to a medium size bowl.
Peel and seed the jalapeño. Finely chop and add to the potatoes. Chop the rest of the grilled vegetables into ½-inch pieces and add to the potatoes along with the chipotle and sauce. Stir in the cilantro. Taste for seasoning and add more chipotle sauce if it is not spicy enough for you.
Heat a little oil in a skillet and add a tortilla. When it is soft and heated through, flip it over and heat the other side. Sprinkle a bit of cheese over and spread about 1/3 cup filling across the center. Fold the tortilla in half and keep them warm in a low oven while you repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Serve with salsa, guacamole and sour cream if desired.


text:
Some fans bound to be disappointed by League of Gentlemen reboot, warns creator
The sketch show, based in the sinister fictional town of Royston Vasey, was a hit following its launch as a radio series in 1997 before running for three series on TV from 1999 until 2002.
It will return on its 20th anniversary for three 30-minute episodes over the festive period but Shearsmith, who stars alongside Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton, said a reboot always runs the risk of disappointing fans.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAsked if critics may deem it a mistake to bring it back, he said: "Yes, there is that worry, but if you thought too long about that, you wouldn't do it.
"Of course, even if this was better than the original League Of Gentlemen, there'd be some who would say, 'They should never have done it and it's terrible now'.
"Because to them, it's in aspic as this brilliant thing and you meddle with it at your peril. They think you should just remain enigmatic. But then you'd never do anything."
Jeremy Dyson, who wrote the series alongside its three stars, revealed the foursome had never faced censure by the BBC during the making of the show.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"We have never been censored by the powers that be," he said.
"We have always had those conversations ourselves, so we have always had a sense between us of where that line is, even if you couldn't lay it out as a set of rules."
The comedy will see Royston Vasey facing a threat more dire than anything it has faced before as boundary changes may erase the town from maps forever.
The three episodes will run over three consecutive evenings starting Monday December 18 on BBC Two.


text:
If good can come out of the agony surrounding Matthew Warren's tragic suicide, it's that it forces the church to think through its response to mental illness and how to care better for those who suffer with it. I'm hugely encouraged by some of the initial responses to this terrible loss, and hope that it may mark a significant turning point in the church's understanding of these complex issues, and turn the hearts and minds of many Christians to this large though often neglected and despised group in our churches and communities. Further to my post yesterday on 7 Questions about Suicide and Christians, here are some of the most outstanding posts I've read in the last 24 hours or so.
How Churches can respond to mental illness
Ed Stetzer with a nicely balanced piece on what the church can do for those suffering with mental illness.
When a loved one takes his life
Timothy Dalrymple relates some of his own struggles and concludes: "When I was a child, I believed that God looked at suicides with anger. I don't believe that anymore. I think he looks on those who commit suicide with great compassion. They have not had an easy go of life. And for those who have given their lives to God, there is no deed, even a final deed committed in despair, that can separate them from his love."
Can a Christian get depressed?
Christian author, Adrian Warnock, a psychiatrist by training, answers the question, "Why do some Christians feel that Christians should not get depressed?"
The Asphyxiation of Hope
Michael Patton attempts to describe the indescribable, and comes as close to it as anyone I've read.
Matthew Warren, His Family, and Guidelines for the Rest of Us
Some strongly stated Don'ts and one simple Do.
Someone you love is deathly sad and you don't even know it
This one will sensitize you to the suffering of those who may be under your own roof.
How do we as a church respond to mental illness?
Singer Sheila Walsh's father committed suicide and she has suffered with deep depression also. Two very moving interviews with her here and here.
Lets stop keeping mental illness a secret
"For years, we've reserved the term "mental illness" for only the most extreme cases, but 26% of us in any given year suffer from depression, anxiety and a serious number of other mental illnesses, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It's a dirty little secret few people want to talk about, a devastating statistic implying that, in each of our families, we all care for someone who faces this pain."


text:
Next on Vietnamese Street food introduction is Chao Vit, or Vietnamese duck porridge. A classic dish that I had for the very first time during this trip to Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnamese Duck Porridge stall by Chu Manh Trinh roadÂ
We actually stumbled  upon this little road side stalls by Chu Manh Trinh road in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City while walking from the touristy areas towards our Airbnb room slightly further North East. The stall was well stocked with plenty of duck, and with a crowd seated around it enjoying porridge & slices of duck meat.
We just couldn't miss the opportunity.
the porridge also comes with coagulated blood
We ordered a portion of duck for two person to go with porridge, as well as a portion of innards. This was done with a combination of Google translate via the phone, and a bit of finger pointing to the other tables. Technology sure helps in making all these authentic food so much more accessible to those who can't speak the language, we were the only non-natives at the stall.
simple eat by the road side – chao vit
Chao Vit is excellent, the boiled duck meat is served with green onions, cilantro, pepper, fish sauce and more. The condiment that goes with it compliment the meat perfectly, and can be made spicy if that's your preference. As for the porridge, they're made from broken rice and  even comes with chunks of coagulated blood, one of my favorite ingredients!
It was really one of the best dishes we had in Saigon, if you're ever at District 1 and don't mind dining with the locals, this is a place that you need to check out.
safe to say we both loved this dish a lot
The meal cost us just over 100,000 VND if I'm not mistaken, totally worth it.
Chao Vit road side stall
Chu Mạnh Trinh
District 1, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam


text:
Born: 11-Mar-1982Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Gender: FemaleRace or Ethnicity: WhiteSexual orientation: StraightOccupation: Actor
Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: Enid from Ghost World
As a 4-year-old, Birch made commercials for oatmeal, with Wilford Brimley playing her grandfather. At 5, she made her film debut in Purple People Eater with Neil Patrick Harris and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In her first sitcom she was one of the tots in the daycare comedy Day By Day. She later played one of Ed Begley, Jr.'s kids on the TV series of Parenthood.
As a kid, she got good reviews opposite Elijah Wood in Paradise, and played Harrison Ford's daughter in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. In more grown-up roles, she played Kevin Spacey's daughter in American Beauty, and the alienated student in Daniel Clowes's Ghost World.
She was 17 when she filmed her topless scene for American Beauty, but in California that is legal, so long as the Child Labor Board approves. Thora Birch's mother played the nurse in the porn classic Deep Throat, and both her parents co-starred in the sex western Bad Girl of the West and the tasty Candy Goes to Hollywood.
Father: Jack Birch (pornstar)Mother: Carol Connors (pornstar)Brother: Kian Bolt Birch (b. 3-Oct-1990, actor, Monster Mountain)
High School: dropped out, earned diploma through correspondence school
Risk Factors: Smoking
TELEVISION Parenthood Taylor Buckman (1990-91) Day by Day Molly (1988-89)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR The Last Black Man in San Francisco (26-Jan-2019) Petunia (14-Jul-2012) Pregnancy Pact (23-Jan-2010) Capitalism: A Love Story (6-Sep-2009) · Herself Deadline (7-Feb-2009) · Lucy Train (16-Oct-2008) · Alex Dark Corners (10-May-2006) Slingshot (26-Apr-2005) Silver City (27-Aug-2004) · Karen Cross Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (7-Apr-2003) Ghost World (16-Jun-2001) · Enid The Hole (20-Apr-2001) · Liz Dungeons & Dragons (8-Dec-2000) The Smokers (5-Mar-2000) American Beauty (8-Sep-1999) Night Ride Home (7-Feb-1999) Alaska (14-Aug-1996) · Jessie Barnes Now and Then (20-Oct-1995) Clear and Present Danger (3-Aug-1994) Monkey Trouble (18-Mar-1994) · Eva Hocus Pocus (16-Jul-1993) Patriot Games (5-Jun-1992) All I Want for Christmas (11-Nov-1991) · Hallie O'Fallon Paradise (12-Sep-1991) · Billie Pike Purple People Eater (Dec-1988)
Official Website:http://www.thora.org/
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text: Trac Ticket QueriesIn addition to reports, Trac provides support for custom ticket queries, used to display lists of tickets meeting a specified set of criteria. To configure and execute a custom query, switch to the View Tickets module from the navigation bar, and select the Custom Query link. Query FormA form will be presented, letting you select or enter values for any of the ticket properties (both built-in and custom). Any value selected/entered in this form will be used to constrain the set of tickets displayed. Only tickets where properties match the criteria will be displayed. Results DisplayAfter executing the search, a list of tickets meeting the selected criteria will show. By default, the list is sorted by priority. You can change the sorting to any other visible column by clicking on the corresponding column header. Clicking the same header again will reverse the sort order. You can edit the query by clicking Refine Query. See also: TracTickets, TracReports, TracGuide |